I cook poorly, I craft obsessively and I love the look of a retro cocktail. When I am feeling guilty about taking time away from my family with my obsessions, I make videos about my guilt as "The Guilty Crafter" or I blog here. Thanks for stopping by!

Please excuse my absence from this blog lately. I've been busy moving to a new state and getting acquainted with the most important element of any new city: food. More on the move in a future blog post but for now, it's important to note that we're now within biking distance to a Trader Joe's. Sharing a hometown with TJ's (Monrovia, CA) means that I can't imagine *not* living near one. I mean, how would we make salads without the dried tart cherries and spicy pecans? Ammirite?

Yesterday, in our quest to learn our new city, we abused our privileges at a "pick-your-own" berry farm. We took the "sample as you go" policy very seriously and ate an epic amount of berries, only to be rivaled by the amount we hauled home. Our eyes, as they say, were bigger than our stomachs. We are slowly making a dent in our stash by doing things like modifying more challenging and/or time consuming recipes with my own cheater shortcuts (see our cute mini pie in the pic above?) and topping it all off with the greatest find of all time- Trader Joe's shelf stable whipping cream. By gads, it WORKS. No more racing against the expiration date on whipped cream, no more "Dang, I should'a picked up whipping cream at the market. This can be in your cupboard (hello, Doomsday/ Zombie Apocalypse preppers!) until you need it. Then, pop in the fridge to chill, do that fancy trick where you also pre-chill your mixer and bowl (optional) and BOOM. Delicious, fresh whipped cream. Delicious.

This is my 3rd year posting photos of the way I amuse myself when making my kids' lunches on April Fool's Day. This year, my co-conspirator friend Marion and I went full-on pet food for our kids. I used my favorite safety can opener trick to creat the perfect space for a container of pudding, a dog bone package fit string cheese like it was made for the job, and then we used a bigger dog treat bag for a sandwich and a cat treat bag for Goldfish crackers. Obviously we cleaned the containers and let them air out but we hedged our bets by only adding sealed lunch foods into the pet food containers. I giggled all day thinking about it. Go ahead and Pin it for next year or for when you want to emphasize that your husband's in the dog house..

One is the perks of having friends in the craft industry is getting crafty surprises in the mail. Yesterday, I received a box with several craft templates from Clover USA that will be the cause of untold hours of guilt because- why do housework when you have new toys? Amirite?! Check out these sweet little heart-shaped pom-poms I've been making all morning. I think I may even have an idea about what to do with them! Stay-tuned!

And if you're pom-pom crazed like I am, you can buy the Clover tool on their website. The tool comes in large and small (I'm using the small in the photos above) and a regular circle pom maker in large and small. Link is here: http://www.clover-usa.com. And in case you were wondering, I am in no way affiliated with Clover USA (except for having a friend who works there).

Yes, you read that right. It's National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day. I know this because I learned it on NPR and in my family, we have a saying, "If I heard it on NPR, it has to be true." Also, several of you wished me a happy NBWA day because you sensed that with my love of recycling in crafting and my love for shiny plastic, I'd probably be a bubble wrap lover. You're right! Check out these upcycled business cards I made for a swap a few years ago. A bit of bubble wrap, some snips from a produce bags (some of my favorite plastic), a few little bits of scrapbook goodies and I had a pretty cute little card. Don't throw that bubble wrap away- you'll just feel guilty! Get crafty with it!

We all fight over power cords around the Guilty house and last week I almost hyperventilated when I realized I had been trying to jam my Kindle power cord into my beloved new iPad mini. Eeek! I could have ruined it! And since my dear husband has scoffed at me buying the pink power adaptors I linger over at the drugstore, I decided to spend all of 3 minutes wrapping mine with some washi tape. You can find various ideas on Pinterest along the same lines- painting them with craft paint or nail polish- I even heard of someone dyeing hers with Rit Dye. But really, that's a lot of hassle. Washi tape is perfect- cute, quick, thin, and easy to work with. Hey- just like me! (I kid). But really, invest in the 3 minutes- there's no way my kids will be sneaking off with my adapters now plus I have a great visual reminder not to try to charge my iPad mini with the wrong charger! (Oh and yes, I did also cover my husband and son's various chargers. That'll teach them to mess with a crafter's stuff).

The best part of going to amazing crafting conventions and trade shows? The free stuff. The worst thing about going to amazing crafting conventions? The guilt when you don't make anything with the free stuff. So, as I forge on with my New Year's resolution of working on something creative at least 2 hours every weekday, I am thrilled to say I have already created something cute with some of my swag from CHA last week.

That's really it. So big thank you to Lion Brand Yarn and Clover. This was super easy and I really was able to zone out in front of the TV while I quickly wove my basket. For my first try, I see that I could have secured the corners a bit better but all in all, it's a lovely way to use up pretty yarn. The cool thing is, I can also easily unwind the yarn on the Basket Template in the future if I need it (and then re-wrap the basket with something else- raffia, ribbon, etc.) so the basket doubles as pretty/decorative yarn storage as well. Nothing is glued or tied, it's all. Everything is nicely wrapped around the template. So... DONE. Yay me!

Being in 2 at the same time! Check out my craft room in the new issue of Creating Keepsakes' Creative Spaces and check out my dress to apron project (no sew!) in the latest issue of Apronology. You can usually find both at your local Barnes and Nobles.

It's interesting how many times I've needed to change my business cards in the last 2 years. I have tried it with all my social media links listed, I've shortened my blog URL, I've changed what professional skills I highlight. etc. It never hurts to have an updated look, I figure. This time for the Craft and Hobby Association, I thought I'd update my card and give it as clean and streamlined a look as possible. I added a QR code on the off-chance that other crafters are in the habit of using their smart phones to scan them (go ahead and try it- the QR code even works on this photo of my new cards).

P.S. You can see my past business cards by searching in the search box (bottom of left of this screen).